COMMEMORATION OF THE GREAT FAMINE/GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE
(1932-1933)
Date: Sunday, November 26, 2006Memorial service followed by a
commemorative concert.
St Sophie Cathedral: 6250 12th Avenue (Rosemont)
Organized by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Montreal Branch
Info: (514) 593-1000

Memorial marks Famine of 1932-33.
Survivors
call it a genocide, deliberately
started
by Stalin's agricultural policy

KINDA JAYOUSH
The Gazette

Sunday, November 23, 2003

Vera Wusaty, 73, could not
fight back her tears recalling
the horrible way two of her
cousins died in the 1932-1933
famine in Ukraine.

"There was absolutely nothing
to eat and hundreds of people
were dying every day," said
Wusaty at a memorial held
yesterday to honour about 7
million Ukrainians who died of
starvation.

"The family had three children,
but did not have any food. So,
the parents had to make a
decision. They picked one of
their children and they gave
him the small bits of food they
had and left the other two to
die. They had no other choice,"
she added.

But the memories of seeing their children die of hunger, haunted
the
parents
for the rest of their lives.

"I never saw them smiling after the death of their children," she
said
at the
memorial, which was held at the Ukrainian Youth
Centre on Beaubien St.
E.

Members of the Ukrainian community lit candles and prayed
for the
victims.

The memorial was part of activities held in Montreal to
commemorate
what
Ukrainians say was one of the worst
genocides of the 20th century.

They say the famine was deliberately started by the then
Soviet leader
Joseph
Stalin, whose agricultural policy
stripped farmers of their produce.
Details
of
the tragedy
remained hidden until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Another survivor of the famine, Michael Hayduk, 79,
said villagers had
nothing
to eat but the grass.

"We used to go in the spring and dig for hours, hoping that
we would
find
some
frozen potatoes. The army left nothing
in the villages, not even a
handful
of
grain."

This month, a United Nation's declaration recognized the
famine as
Ukraine's
national tragedy. Ukraine has announced
November as a remembrance
month. The Canadian Senate has
agreed to designate every fourth
Saturday
in November as a
day of remembrance.

Also, to commemorate the famine, Montreal's nine Ukrainian
churches and
the
Ukrainian Canadian Congress collected food
donations, which will be
given
to
Sun Youth tomorrow.